Cruising to Alaska and Playing Catchup with Pete McCall

Building a rock stack on the outwash plain of the Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska

Happy beginning of the work week to all of you! Are you ready to be inspired?

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been enjoying some much needed time away from the office and my clients to rest and recharge with Penny, Angie and Mana, first on a cruise up the Pacific Northwest from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska, where we rented a beautiful log cabin away from it all.

We were blessed with beautiful weather (74 degrees in Seward on Thursday afternoon), which is uncommonly warm for Alaska in September.

BTW, I turned 57 on the first day of the cruise and feel as great as ever too!

Just to prove to you I wasn’t taking a break from working out, when we stopped for a day trip in Skagway, Alaska, I got some deadlifting in at a local rec center to activate the “man hormones.”

Although the rec center had a great basketball area, and rock climbing wall, it didn’t have any chalk or a dedicated place to do deadlifts. So I took the bench press bar and plates from the leg press and found a way.

Deadlifting at the local rec center in Skagway, Alaska

I could easily get used to spending longer than a week or so in Alaska, but it’s time to get back to “civilization” (whatever that is!) and into the swing of things.

Talking to Pete McCall

To help me play catchup on all of the emails, clients and contacts I’ve missed while we’ve been gone, this week, I want to share a podcast interview with you from about a year ago that didn’t get nearly the attention I expected.

Pete McCall is an ACE certified personal trainer with advanced certifications and a Master’s degree in exercise science and health promotion who has been interviewed by publications ranging from the Washington Post and New York Times to Runner’s World and Self.

When he approached me to do a podcast interview, Pete reminded me that he attended a number of my workshops about 15 years ago or so, and how much my approach had influenced his career as a personal trainer along with my book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy.

Much of what we discussed had nothing to do with comparing our philosophies about the best approaches to sets, reps and exercises. In fact, we talked a lot about the spiritual side of wellness and inner side of fitness.

I’m proud to say Pete calls me one of the “major disruptors” in the fitness industry. He reminded me about my philosophies about movement — just standing up and moving more — as gyms were cramming their spaces with heavy duty machines equipped with seat belts.

Pete also reminded me he wasn’t aware about the problems associated with gluten intolerance until I talked about them close to 20 years ago at a couple of my workshops he attended at a conference.

Also, I talked to Pete about the exercise industry, which is no different than the medical or drug industries, because none of them are really concerned about what’s actually best for people. It’s all product-driven.

If you go to any conference, almost every session is connected to some kind of product, pill or protein powder. The exercise industry really has very little to do with exercise. Not to mention, the level of knowledge required to be an exercise professional is so ridiculously low that in many countries, anyone can get a personal trainer’s certification merely by taking online courses and multiple-choice tests.

Among the topics we cover in our podcast interview:

Doing CrossFit (there’s no such thing as bad drugs or exercises, just incorrectly prescribed ones).

Learning how to treat chronic health problems for others, starting with my own.

Battling the marketing reach of major corporations to protect our world’s collective health and developing the concept of the 4 Doctors.